In baseball, many times it’s the little things that win baseball games, and doing the little things was what helped Eastern defeat visiting Butler 3-2 at Monier Field Tuesday.

“It was a good baseball game. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the little things done today,” Butler head coach Steve Farley said. “We were unable to execute today and that cost us.

“When you can’t execute easy Little League things you aren’t going to win many games.”

The game was decided by the Panthers’ ability to get the bunt down and the Bulldogs’ inablity to lay down their bunts.

Butler was one for five on their sacrifice attempts, while Eastern won the game on a safety squeeze by right fielder Pete Pirman, which scored third baseman Chris Martin for the eventual winning run.

“Today’s game basically came down to us being able to lay down the bunt and them not,” Eastern manager Jim Schmitz said. “We had a short practice yesterday and that’s what we worked on all day.”

Pirman, who was 1-for-4 on the day, said he was just trying to just get the bunt down and help the team.

“Small ball wins games. Coach has been telling us that all season long,” Pirman said. “And I was trying to get up there and get it done.”

Eastern got its first run in the bottom of the third after lead-off hitter Josh Landon walked and was doubled in by Martin to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs came back in the fifth inning to take the lead away from Eastern when Butler left fielder Regan Allee doubled to drive in two runs off reliever Jason Pinnell to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.

The lead didn’t last long though as catcher Tim Aurrichio took Butler starter Ryan Chenowith’s pitch over the left field wall to tie the score at two.

Those two runs were the only runs Butler could muster up off of three Eastern pitchers.

Starter Jared Marshall, Pinnell and Mike Ziroli, who got the win to improve his record to 3-2, combined to allow only two runs on eight hits.

“Jared, Jason and Mike combined to throw a great game,” Schmitz said. “This was another 3-2 game, so you have to give those credit for staying sharp. You know Jared is throwing Tuesday to Tuesday and that’s tough.”

Although Ziroli has been roughed up a little bit lately, he let Schmitz know that all he needed was some extra innings to get back to his old self.

“Mike came to me and let me know that he felt like he needed some more innings,” Schmitz said. “He got some extended innings today and he got the win, so I guess it worked.”

The pitching got some help from a Panther defense that turned into four double plays, including a run-saving double play in the ninth where Landon went up the middle, snagged the ball deep behind second, and then flipped it to shortstop Jesse Niehaus, who tossed it to first to complete the 6-4-3 double play.

“It was one of those days where the ball just happened to bounce our way,” Landon said. “On that last one, the ball bounced off Ziroli’s glove and I was able to get to it and Jesse made a nice turn.

“We just wanted to get the lead guy for sure, but we were happy to get them both.”